In a vicious cycle of outrage over the weekend, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has wound up looking pretty relatable after posting a picture of himself drinking a beer while cuddling his granddaughter at the footy.

On Saturday evening, after the Sydney Swans beat Essendon in Sydney, Turnbull posted the picture on social media. Just a couple of hours later, Daily Mail Australia had published a story about the “outrage” the photo generated, and quoted three (just three) Facebook commenters who weren’t happy with the PM drinking booze while nursing a baby.

The yarn was promptly picked up on news websites around the country, quoting the same three comments, and even caught the attention of US right-wing news website Breitbart. The PM was reportedly “slammed”, and was facing “widespread criticism” over the image.

The News Corp tabloids picked up the story for their print editions today, and the Daily Telegraph even bought into the outrage for its editorial.

 

And it proved perfect fodder for radio and TV — by this morning, there had been 39 mentions of the incident on traditional broadcasts, both from callers and the broadcasters themselves.

 

Other politicians have been weighing in — Senator Pauline Hanson defended Turnbull on Sunrise, and opposition leader Bill Shorten released a statement in support of the PM yesterday.

The faux outrage has been a win for Turnbull. Appearing on Triple M radio in Melbourne this morning, Turnbull spoke some sense, saying the outrage probably wasn’t as bad as reports suggested. And in the meantime, he gets to focus on an endearing photo of himself at the footy rather than other issues.

Political marketing strategist Toby Ralph said the outrage was only felt by “a furious few”:

“I can’t imagine the photo of Malcolm Turnbull will cause any enduring outrage except with Angry of Brunswick who live for moments like this. After all, it was taken before the Prime Minister got completely legless, dropped the baby, puked, punched the pie seller and started shooting up. It’s one of those daft situations where people write letters starting ‘political correctness gone mad’ or ‘a rare victory for common sense’. What tiny lives we lead … I imagine most people would see them as grabbing any opportunity to slag the PM, and probably feel warmer toward Mr Turnbull because of the ridiculous attack on him by vindictive nutters and safety nazis.”